Sir, - In response to Donal O'Driscoll's letter (July 29) regarding the arrest of pro-life demonstrators, I would like to clarify Amnesty International's position:
If the demonstrators were arrested solely for peacefully expressing their views, then Amnesty International would take up their case. If there was evidence of excessive use of force by the Garda, Amnesty would investigate this. However, if the demonstrators were arrested for breaches of public order, then they would be subject to the normal sanctions of the law. Amnesty International would not become involved in any incidents unless it could be shown that gardai had used excessive force and that their behaviour constituted cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international standards. That is not a matter for the Irish section to decide for reasons of independence and impartiality and I have referred the question of the treatment of the demonstrators to the international secretariat of Amnesty International.
Amnesty International has no position on abortion; it is simply outside our mandate. We are an organisation with limited human and financial resources. The budget of Amnesty International for all its research, publications and campaigning is less than that of the Arts Council in Ireland. There are many human rights issues outside our mandate that we are asked to take up and naturally people feel very strongly about some of these very emotive issues. However, we cannot take on everything. Indeed, sometimes it seems that we don't even do what we are supposed to do sufficiently well.
Finally it was a cheap shot to deride the response of the people of Ireland to Amnesty's campaign in support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of Article 1 of which states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, they are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." - Yours, etc., Mary Lawlor,
Director, Amnesty International, Irish Section, Fleet Street, Dublin 2.